Blind love: Buying a car sight unseen

Consumers take a chance buying collector's car from the Web

October 27, 2012|By Jenny King | Special to Tribiune Newspapers

(HANDOUT)

It's one thing to purchase a sofa from a home decorating catalog without ever sitting on it — even if the price is $3,400.

It's another thing to see a car like the one you drove in high school (or an exotic import to mollify a mid-life crisis) on an auction website and win the bid without ever touching or driving the four-wheeled beloved.

Wolk did some research and was keen on trying for this unusual Porsche. As the online offers slowly climbed, Wolk said he contacted the head of the Porsche Club in Hawaii who knew the car.

"He said it was being fairly represented," says Wolk, who dived into the final bidding and got the Porsche Continental for the reserve — the minimum amount acceptable to the seller. A long-distance deal was done.

In general, shopping for items sight-unseen is trending up, says Lara Koslow, a partner with Boston Consulting Group in Los Angeles.

"It is a bit of a "mouse-and-the-cheese" phenomenon," Koslow says. "Positive results reinforce future behavior. So basically, more and more frequently consumers order online sight-unseen and get what they want or expect, so they do it again."

A recent BCG study showed that cars are among the most-researched goods on-line. But cars also fell into a category (including large appliances, smartphones and furniture) in which items were researched online but purchased off-line. The survey asked consumers how they typically use the internet in the shopping process.

Automotive consultant and collector Jim Walker is among those who prefer to see and drive a special car before making an offer. Walker, who is based in Ann Arbor, Mich., says he has travelled to California and North Carolina to check out vehicles of interest.

Some of the very expensive collector cars may be purchased sight-unseen by an enthusiast, but these sales often include hiring a pre-purchase inspector who will evaluate the vehicle, Walker says.

"And some of these top cars have very well-known provenances (detailed histories)," says Walker.

What if the vehicle has issues?

"At the $500,000 to $10,000,000 level, it is not really relevant if the car needs $25,000 worth of repairs," he says. Walker says he has travelled as far as California to check out a couple of cars of interest. "At my $60,000 - $100,000 purchase level, such firsthand knowledge is very important."

When Robert Porter of Lakewood, Ohio learned of a 1954 Cadillac 60 Special Fleetwood for sale in Indianapolis last spring, he hired a broker to check it out and help with the transaction.

"That is the first time I've bought sight-unseen," he says.

Porter says about all he did to the silver-gray extended-wheelbase sedan was make adjustments to its four-speed Hydramatic transmission. Porter showed his most recent acquisition at the Glenmoor Gathering in Canton, Ohio in September. He liked to point out to visitors the label under the hood naming the dealer and the first owner. Cadillac did that then, he says.

Satisfaction guaranteed

Boston Consulting's Koslow points out that liberal return policies take some of the fear out of distance shopping.

Vintage Corvette dealer Terry Michaelis some 15 years ago crafted a money-back guarantee that allowed customers to return their Vettes for a full refund, minus shipping costs. Today nearly 100 percent of Michaelis's sales are to buyers who have never set foot on his property in Napoleon, Ohio.

"People in Cincinnati won't even drive up here," he says. "It makes me kind of sad. It used to be all about the chase, the sparring, the communication.

"Now customers are armchair purchasers," he says.

The dealer also notes that in earlier years most of his sales were to people in surrounding states. Today buyers are more widespread geographically with only a handful from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

Conservation, not restoration is the motto of Hill, whose garages hold automotive treasures from 1915 to a couple of post-World War II woodie station wagons.

Hill bought a rare 1931 Hudson with boattail body by Murray sight-unseen. And he was willing to buy a couple of 1935 Hupmobile coupes in order to get some sought-after original fender skirts for the '35 Hupp he was cleaning up.

Skilled and knowledgeable, Hill searches persistently for the right pieces of hardware and fabric with which to cover interior panels. He says he finds the beauty and character of a vehicle when he can find even thin coats of original paint under more recent primer or years of dirt. Buying vehicles sight-unseen doesn't phase him at all.

Auction scene changing

Bidding online or by phone is taking a front seat at the major collector car public sales, according to RM Auctions of Chatham-Kent, Ontario.

"Up to 30 percent of our sales are to persons not present," says Stephanie Jacklin, RM Auctions vice president for client services. "Five years ago perhaps 5 to 10 percent were over the phone or online."

RM Auctions provides vehicle records and current driving tests in advance to bidders to answer questions and confirm or allay doubts. Jacklin says background information might include historical photos, build sheets from the factory and service history.

"Five years ago internet bidding was in its infancy," Jacklin continues. "High-speed has changed it."

This, plus an active phone bank and bids from the floor, all during the auction process, make it all "pretty exciting," she says.